Punjabi Mela to bring Koyoo Plaza to life under the stars

Members of Griffith's Indian community, Wellways and Griffith Real Estate are collaborating to deliver the inaugural event Punjabi Mela.

The celebration promises to be a night of cultural immersion, featuring food stalls, Bollywood disco music and traditional Indian dance performances.

The Punjabi cultural festival occurs on the Sikh and Hindu calendar around mid-April each year and corresponds with the first harvesting of the crops for the year in Northern India.

Co-organiser Nick Chauhan says he hopes the event will prove popular enough to become a regular feature.

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"It'll be a great celebration to be a part of held in our main street," Mr Chauhan said.

"We hope there will be enough interest to make it a yearly fixture.

"We've now formed a committee to help plan the event which will be the first of its kind in Griffith. We're excited and hoping plenty of people will get involved.

"We don't have an exact target of how much we would like to raise, but anything will be greatly appreciated. Our major focus is on raising awareness around suicide and the outlet Wellways which is there to help."

Suicide Prevention Support Coordinator at Wellways, Sophia Zappala, said the night will be a fantastic opportunity for the community to learn about what Wellways does.

"It's really important for the community to understand what we are about," Ms Zappala said.

"Unfortunately we do lose a lot of people to suicide in our area which in turn affects the community in various ways.

"On the day we will have a tent set up and we welcome everyone to drop in and say hello. We will be doing face painting and will have information on hand for anyone who would like to know more about our services," Ms Zappala said.

The event will be held in Koyoo Plaza on Friday April 21.

Community members and businesses that would like to help make the event a success should contact Nick Chauhan on 0403 561 945 or Tony Santolin at Griffith Real Estate on (02) 6962 1455.

If you or someone you know is in immediate danger, please contact 000. Mental health support is also available at the following numbers:

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